LAHORE - Salim Ghauri, Chairman and CEO NetSol Technologies Ltd, has urged the government to promote collaborations with foreign Information Technology (IT) institutions for growth of information technology in Pakistan. He was talking to a group of students from different information technology institutions who visited NetSol Technologies the other day. According to him, the focus of such initiatives should be exchange of students, staff members, research scientists, and institutional managers for short periods to generate and guarantee continued scientific and scholarly cooperation. He said such initiatives should also promote cooperative and collaborative linkages to enhance their scientific, technical and engineering competencies and to develop future programmes of mutual interest and benefit of IT institutions. Salim said there is an urgent need of higher degree training to teaching staff working at the IT institutions locally, and joint conferences, seminars, symposia, summer courses and short courses can play vital role in this regard. Besides, he added, exchanging publications and other scientific materials for scientific, scholarly, educational and information purposes would also be possible through such interactions to strengthen the friendly relationships between the institutions.